Handcuffs, Kidnappings, and Clues
by musiclover3
Summary: The clue hunters have been forced to participate in this "game" the Vespers have established to rescue seven people they hold dear to them. They've given them clues to the hostages' whereabouts. And being handcuffed to the person they hate the most? Chaos
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues**_

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Handcuffs, Kidnappings, and Clues

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Amy wasn't sure why she woke up on the floor, all she knew was that she couldn't see anything, and that she had a headache. She squinted her eyes in the darkness, trying to make out anything- _anything _that looked familiar. Nothing. She tried lifting up her hand, but found that she couldn't. She looked down at her hand. Something cold was wrapped around her wrist. When she tried to lift it up, something came up with it. She touched what was connected to her wrist. Amy's eyes widened. It was a _hand._

She shrieked and sat up. After she did so, she heard groans and moans around her. Where was she? What had happened while she was asleep?

"Yo, where are we?"

"I can't see anything!"

"What in Gideon's name is going on?"

Suddenly, the lights flickered on. Everyone gasped at the sudden bright light. Amy looked at the figure besides her. A teen with black hair and amber eyes lay beside her. Ian. Amy squeaked and tried to scoot farther away, but found that she couldn't. She looked at her wrist. _Handcuffs._ She was handcuffed to Ian Kabra!

She gasped and looked around her. It seemed all of the clue hunters were there. And they all seemed to be handcuffed to someone as well.

"Hey! Where are we?" Hamilton asked. "How'd we get here?"

Amy observed her surroundings. They seemed to be in a large, spacious cement room with a large flat screen T.V. on the wall in front of them. There was one door that seemed to be locked. A keypad was besides it.

"I don't know." Ian spoke, sitting up. He looked down at his and Amy's hands cuffed together. He glanced up at her. "How did this happen?"

Amy blushed and looked away. "I-I don't know..."

This was the first time since the clue hunters had seen each other since the Clue hunt. It had only been a few months since they had been in the Gauntlet.

Natalie shrieked. Dan looked at his handcuffs in horror. They had been handcuffed together.

"What's the meaning of this?" Natalie shrieked. "What is going on?"

The flat screen suddenly turned on. They all averted their attention to the screen. A girl that looked about Amy's age- fifteen- appeared on the screen. She had wavy brown hair and alert green eyes. She didn't look familiar to any of them.

"Hello, Cahills!" she said, cheerfully. "I see you've all woken up."

"Who are you?" Madison demanded. "Where are we?"

"Now, I can't tell you all the details, but I'll just say that you are all somewhere in Europe." said the girl, smiling. "As for who I am, you can just call me Maddie."

"Why are we here?" Ian asked.

"I have brought you all here today for a little game we've set up." said Maddie.

"What game?" Reagan asked.

"And who's we?" Madison said.

"Oh, sorry! I can't say about who "we" is, quite yet. But I can tell you about this game." said Maddie.

"You can't just kidnap us and expect us to go along with whatever you want. You have no right!" Natalie snapped.

Maddie just laughed. "I see you don't care about you're family and friends then."

"Family?" Amy said. The temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees.

"Oh, yes. We've kidnapped some people who are close to you." said Maddie. "And if you want to see them again, you'll have to participate in this game we've set up."

"That's not fair!" Reagan shouted.

"Nothing in this world's _fair_, Holt. And you're going to participate in this game whether you like it or not." said Maddie.

Amy looked at Dan.

_Vesper?_ she said, through her eyes.

_Who else could it be?_ Dan replied.

Amy shivered at the thought. Maddie caught that shiver.

"Ah, it seems that Ms. Cahill has finally caught on." said Maddie, smirking.

Ian shot Amy a questioning look. Amy kept her attention on the T.V. screen.

"Who have you kidnapped?" Ned asked.

Maddie smiled and the scene on the screen changed. Seven pictures appeared on the screen.

"Recognize them?" Maddie asked.

Amy gasped. The pictures on the screen were _very _familiar to her.

Dan clenched his fists in anger. Jonah turned pale. The Holts' jaws dropped.

Evan Tolliver, Atticus Rosenbloom, Nellie Gomez, Fiske Cahill, Alistair Oh, Phoenix Wizard, and Mary-Todd Holt were pictured on the screen.

"But that's not fair!" Dan yelled. "Most of those people on the screen are people Amy and I care about! What about the Kabras? The Starlings?"

"Oh, don't worry, Cahill." said Maddie. "If one of you slips up or tries anything funny, one of _you _will be kidnapped as well. Besides, we decided not to kidnap any of you clue hunters. We wanted you all to participate in the game."

"What is this _game_, then?" Ian said through clenched teeth.

Maddie smiled. "It's quite simple, actually. You'll all be handed one clue. If you manage to solve it, you'll be given the location of where one of the hostages are. Once you get there, you'll be handed a clue about where _exactly _they are. Then, it just keeps going over and over again."

"You call _that _simple?" Dan muttered.

"So, what's with the handcuffs?" Hamilton asked, raising his and Sinead's hands in the air.

Maddie smirked. "That? _That_, my friends, is for my own amusement. Maybe it'll help you get along. Plus, it'll make this game all the more harder."

"Then why isn't Jonah handcuffed to anyone?" Sinead demanded.

"Because one person has to be un-handcuffed. It'll make things a little easier. Besides, there was no one else available to be handcuffed to him." said Maddie. "You're all handcuffed to the person you can't stand the most."

Ian and Amy were together, Dan and Natalie, Sinead and Hamilton, Ted and Reagan, and Madison and Ned.

Maddie grinned. "You'll all be handed the clue once you manage to do this one task."

"And what's that?" Natalie asked, warily.

Maddie winked. "Get out of there."

The screen faded to black.

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End of Chapter One

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_**What did you think? Please, review!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues**_

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"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood,

but of respect and joy in each other's life."

- Richard Bach

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The Cahills were silent for a minute; no one made a sound. Then, chaos broke loose.

"I can't believe she handcuffed me to _him_!" Natalie shrieked.

"What do you mean? _I'm _the one suffering!" Dan exclaimed. "I'll have to deal with you for who knows how long!"

"Yo, everyone calm down, alright?" Jonah said. "The faster we get out of here, the faster we can get these handcuffs off and get the hostages back."

"Maddie said she'll give us the first clue once we get out of here, but _how _will we do that, exactly?" Ted said.

"There's a keypad next to the door. If we can figure out the password, we can get out of here." said Sinead.

Ian and Amy walked over to the keypad.

"Hm," said Ian, studying the keypad. "It has no numbers, just letters. It has to be a word."

"This will take us forever!" Dan exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air, bringing Natalie's hand with him.

"Maybe it's the location of where we are." said Reagan after a moment. "It seems logical, doesn't it?"

Everyone was silent, thinking about that.

"It seems like our best bet, so far." said Ned.

"Maddie mentioned that we were somewhere in Europe." said Ted. "It would probably be a European country."

"But there are tons of European countries." said Hamilton. "How are we supposed to figure out which one is the right one?"

"Guess?" Madison suggested.

Ian sighed. "I don't see any other way."

"Wait," said Sinead, suddenly in front of the T.V. screen. "Look at the name on the television."

Hamilton examined it. "RAI."

"Exactly," said Sinead, looking triumphant. "RAI is a television company in Italy."

Amy's eyes widened. "So, that means..."

"We're probably in Italy." finshed Dan.

"But don't you think it's too obvious? We figured it out in no time." said Ted. "It's like Maddie wants us to get out of here."

"She probably does." said Amy. "Think about it, whoever she works for kidnapped the hostages for a reason. They want some kind of ransom, probably."

"But they can't get it if we're stuck in here." said Ian.

"That's right. I suspect the clues will get harder as we go on." said Amy.

"Alright! Now, that that is settled, put that password in the keypad, already!" said Jonah.

Ian punched in Italy into the keypad. He pressed the Enter button.

"Password accepted." said an electronic voice.

The door swung open.

"Yes!" Dan said, pumping his free fist in the air.

"Let's go," said Ian, walking out the door with Amy.

They all walked into a long cement hallway. They walked down it and stopped at a door.

"Do we just open it?" Hamilton said.

"I guess," said Dan, pushing the door open.

They were met with bright sunlight. The Cahills squinted in the sudden light. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust. When they did, they saw two huge men a few feet ahead of them.

One of them stepped forward. He handed them an envelope. "From Maddie. Those are the instructions you are to follow."

The other man stepped forward. He gave them another envelope. "This is the first clue."

"A few miles from here is a local restaurant. Go there and open these envelopes. _Do not _under any circumstances look back. Got it?" said the first one.

The Cahills nodded.

The second one smiled without warmth. "Welcome to Italy."

"_Buona fortuna_, Cahills." said the first one, gesturing for them to go away.

The Cahills quickly walked away, eager to escape the two men. They walked for a few miles, looking for the restaurant the two had told them to go to.

"Hey, is it that one?" Madison asked, pointing.

It was a restaurant with few people around it.

"I think so," said Ned. "Let's go inside."

They walked into the restaurant. People milled about, chatting and laughing in Italian. Tourists seemed to be there, as well, speaking in their own languages. The clue hunters walked over to one of the tables.

A girl who looked about sixteen walked over to their table. She had curly brown hair tied in a ponytail and a bright smile. She seemed to be a waitress.

"_Benvenuto_!" she said, smiling.

"Er, we don't speak Italian." said Dan, looking confused.

"Oh!" she said. "You are American tourists, then?"

Sinead nodded. "That's right."

"Alright," she said. "What would you like today?"

The Cahills quickly finished ordering and the waitress walked away.

"We probably look like criminals to all of these people." said Reagan, lowering her voice. "You know, because of these handcuffs and all."

They were getting some strange and suspicious stares from the people around them.

"I'm surprised they haven't recognized Jonah, yet." said Hamilton.

Jonah was hiding his face with the menu.

"We can't keep that up forever." said Ian. "We'll have to get him a hat and sunglasses to disguise himself or people will start to recognize him."

"Let's read the instructions Maddie gave us, now." said Sinead. "We can deal with all of that later."

Ian opened up the envelope and read aloud, lowering his voice so that the other people in the restaurant couldn't hear.

_Welcome to Italy, Cahills. I do hope you enjoy your stay here. Some rules before you read your first clue._

_One, If you involve the police, the hostages die._

_Two, If you try to get rid of your handcuffs, the hostages die._

_Three, Once you find four of the hostages, you'll be handed the key to your handcuffs. Do with it as you please._

_Four, If you fail to solve the clue or do something we don't like, we'll kidnap one of you, as well._

_Play by our rules, alright? You wouldn't want anything happening to the hostages, would you?_

The Cahills were silent as they thought about that letter.

"At least we won't have these handcuffs on the whole time." Dan said, trying to lighten the mood.

"We should read the first clue." said Ted.

Ian nodded and opened the other envelope. He read it aloud.

_This attraction was built in 1602_

_Criminals walked across it to pay their dues_

_They look at their last glimpse of Venice and sigh_

_For they had lost their freedom because of their crimes_

"That makes no sense." said Dan. "This clue doesn't help us at all!"

"This sounds familiar," Amy mused. "_This attraction was built in 1602._"

"Well, that means wherever we're going was built in 1602." said Jonah.

"_Criminals walked across it to pay their dues._" said Amy.

"It says criminals walked across it. Maybe a bridge?" said Hamilton.

"_They look at their last glimpse of Venice and sigh._" said Amy.

"Whatever this is, it must be in Venice." said Reagan.

"_For they had lost their freedom because of their crimes._" finished Amy.

"Maybe they're on their way to a prison or something." said Dan.

"That's it!" Sinead said, her eyes lighting up. "The Bridge of Sighs!"

"You're right!" Amy said, her face brightening.

"What's the Bridge of Sighs?" Dan asked.

"The Bridge of Sighs was built in 1602 and designed by Antonio Contino. The bridge connects the old prison and interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace to the new prison. The prisoners walked across it to get to the prison." explained Sinead. "It's in Venice, Italy."

"_Now_, it makes sense." said Dan, smiling.

Natalie rolled her eyes.

"So, that's where they're holding the first hostage?" Hamilton said. "Somewhere at the Bridge of Sighs?"

"It seems so," said Ian.

"Well? Let's go, dawgs!" said Jonah, standing up.

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End of Chapter Two

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Translations:

_Buona Fortuna_: Good luck

_Benvenuto_: Welcome

_**What did you think? Please, review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues

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When you hold resentment toward another,

you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel

Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free

- Catherine Ponder

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Dan wondered how their group had looked like to other people back at the restaurant. Ten teens handcuffed together, with one guy who resembled the famous teenage superstar Jonah Wizard. He concluded that they looked pretty suspicious. They tried to avoid the police at all costs, fearing that they would be mistaken as kids who had escaped from jail. They didn't need the police involved with this. They tried to hide their handcuffs as best they could, but it wasn't easy.

Dan looked up at the bridge. It was a dirty white bridge surrounded by tall buildings. The Cahills were currently riding in a gondola under it on the canals. The gondolas held only six people, so they left Madison, Ned, Hamilton, and Sinead back at the restaurant to wait for them. There was still more than six people, though, so they had to squeeze in for them all to fit. They had managed to steal one of the gondolas, and had Jonah disguise as a gondolier.

"Amazing," Amy said in awe.

Dan couldn't see what was so awesome about it except that it was connected to a prison and criminals had walked across it years ago. Other than that, Dan couldn't see what was so _amazing _about it.

_Leave it to Amy to see the good things about a bridge. _Dan thought. _What's so great about architecture, anyway?_

"Move over!" Natalie snapped at him. "I'm going to fall in the water if you don't scoot over soon!"

"That's what I'm hoping for." Dan grumbled.

"You know, if she falls over then _you _will too." Ted said. "You're handcuffed together, remember?"

"Don't remind me," Dan muttered.

It was bad enough that the Vespers had already attacked, he didn't need to be reminded that _Natalie Kabra _was handcuffed to him.

"I'm not very happy about this either." Natalie muttered. "Now move!"

"Do you see anything?" Amy asked, looking around.

"I see water, and lots of tall buildings." Dan replied, scooting over for Natalie.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Other than that."

"Maybe one of the hostages are in one of the buildings?" Reagan suggested.

"Or maybe on the Bridge of Sighs itself." Ted sighed.

"We'd need to book a tour if we want to check out the Bridge of Sighs." Jonah said.

"Should we book a tour, Amy?" Dan asked. "Amy?"

But she wasn't listening anymore. She was looking at a gondola in the distance. "Is it just me, or is that gondolier waving at us?"

The Cahills turned to where she was looking and saw that she was right. A gondolier ahead of them was waving at them frantically, obviously trying to get their attention.

"Should we stop to talk to him?" Reagan asked.

"He might need help." Amy said. "He obviously has something to say."

"What do you think he would want with us?" Jonah asked, rowing faster so they could reach the gondola ahead of them.

"I don't know," Amy said.

They reached the gondola. A teen stood in front of them. He looked about Amy's age and had messy brown hair and brown eyes. He had fair skin and wore the outfit gondoliers were supposed to wear: black pants, a striped shirt, and dark shoes.

"Do you need help?" Amy asked.

The teen didn't answer, instead he said, "You are Amy Cahill, yes?" He had an Italian accent.

"Yes," Amy said, hesitantly. She didn't have a good feeling about this.

The teen smiled and held out his hand for her to shake. "I was sent by Maddie to give you a message."

Amy's blood turned cold. "Wh-what?"

The teen just kept on smiling and pointed at something in the gondola. The Cahills looked down. Mary-Todd Holt lay there on the gondola, tied up with a gag on her mouth. She seemed to be unconcious.

Amy gasped. Reagan's hands were in fists.

"Mary-Todd," Ian said in disbelief.

"That's right," the teen said, grinning. "I assume you want her back, yes?"

"You better give her back," Reagan said, through clenched teeth. "Or I'll-"

"Now, now, no need to get violent, Tomas." the teen said. "I have orders to give her back to you. I was just here to make sure no one found the hostage before you did." The teen took out an envelope and set it down next to Mary-Todd. "Now, I must be going. Perhaps we will meet again. _Ciao_." Then, to Amy's shock, he jumped into the water and swam away.

Reagan didn't waste a moment, she got into the gondola and quickly untied her mother. She picked up the envelope and handed it to Ian, who stuffed it into his pocket. With Ted's help, Reagan lifted up Mary-Todd and put her into their gondola.

"Who _was _that guy?" Dan asked, peering into the water where the teen once was.

"He works for whoever Maddie works for, that's for sure." Ted said.

Amy and Dan exchanged a look. _Vespers._

"So, what do we do now?" Natalie asked.

"We should get back to the restaurant and tell the others what happened." said Amy.

"Yo, what about Mary-Todd?" Jonah asked.

"We'll wait for her to wake up first. We wouldn't want to be seen carrying an unconcious person through the streets of Venice. It's suspicious enough that we're all handcuffed to each other." Ian said.

"Sounds like a plan." Jonah said, starting to row the gondola.

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An hour later, Mary-Todd had woken up, and the Cahills had explained the situation with her. They all quickly ran to the restaurant and over to the other Cahills who were waiting for them. After a reunion, they all sat at the table and opened the envelope.

"Is it another clue?" Madison asked.

"It seems so," Ian murmured.

He started to read:

_Complimenti to you, Cahills. I'm impressed. You've found hostage number one: Mary-Todd Holt. Now you just have six more to go. I'm sure you're all wondering where your next destination is. Figure out this clue and you'll be on your way._

_Good luck, Cahills. Hope you got to see some of the sights._

_Rome is nice this time of year._

_Eboli, maybe? It's a city there, isn't it?_

_Empoli? I've never been there before, but it sounds like a nice place._

_Cinque Terre is a nice place to visit I hear. You should visit there._

_Emilia-Romagna, perhaps? I'm just shouting out ideas, here._

The Cahills were silent as they thought about the clue.

"It makes no sense." Hamilton said. "She's just listing off places for us to see in Italy!"

"Maybe one of those places are where they're keeping the other hostages?" Mary-Todd suggested.

"I'm not sure about that." Amy murmured. "It just seems a bit too easy, doesn't it?"

"Maybe the location of where the next hostage is is hidden in the message." said Ned. "Maybe they're not telling us outright where the location is."

"Let me see that," Dan said.

Ian handed him the letter. Dan studied it for a few moments, then his eyes lit up.

"I got it!" Dan exclaimed.

"What? How?" Natalie asked.

"Read the first letter of each line only." Dan said.

"Greece," Ian said, softly.

"Exactly. Our next destination is Greece." Dan said, looking triumphant.

"But how did you figure it out?" Sinead asked.

Dan grinned. "I once played this game that had the hidden message just like that. So, I decided to try it out for this one."

"Of course," Natalie said, rolling her eyes.

Jonah grinned. "Then let's go to Greece!"

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A/N: I actually did play a game that had the hidden message like that. Please, review!

Translations:

_Ciao_: Bye

_Complimenti_: Compliments

luverinreadin: Yeah, I did have to do some research on it. I actually didn't know the Bridge of Sighs existed until I researched it. XD I'm happy I learned something new, though!

amianfan102: Thanks! Your review made my day! :D

space case dudette: Ha, I use to read that series, too! The riddle was actually easy to come up with. I didn't think I could come up with it so fast. :)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Okay, so I already decided all of the places the Cahills will go to find the hostages, if any of you were wondering. :) So, pretty soon I'm going to be adding another OC for my story. I hope you like her. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues

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The world if full of fools and faint hearts;

and yet everyone has courage enough to bear the misfortunes,

and wisdom enough to manage affairs, of his neighbor.

- Benjamin Franklin

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Dan wondered if everyone almost got run over a lot, because that was what was happening to him ever since he got to Greece. Everywhere he saw bicycles. Was this how Greece was supposed to be? Was it always this crowded?

"Hey!" Natalie screamed as a bicycle sped past them.

"Watch where you're going, fool!" Ian yelled.

"Ian, calm down." Amy said.

"Calm down? That was the sixth bloody bicycle that almost ran over us ever since we got to Greece!" Ian exclaimed.

"Ian's right," Sinead said. "I really don't think this is normal."

"Maybe there's something big going on today." said Madison. "A festival maybe? A fair?"

Sinead shook her head. "Not that I know of."

"Then what's going on?" Reagan asked.

"Maybe Maddie's sending us a signal or something." said Hamilton. "Maybe she's trying to tell us something?"

"Or maybe all these people want to run over us." Ian grumbled.

"I think Hamilton's right," Sinead said. "She must be trying to tell us something. But what?"

"Maybe there's some sort of pattern everyone is going in." said Ted after a moment.

"But what would that tell us?" Natalie asked.

"What direction is everyone seeming to go in?" Ted asked.

"All sorts of directions," said Hamilton.

"Yes, but what was the vehicle that passed by us the most?" Ted asked.

"Bicycles," Dan said.

"Exactly, and what direction were most of the bicycles going in?" Ted said.

"That way," said Reagan, pointing in front of them.

"Yes! So, that's where we probably need to go." said Ted.

Sinead beamed. "Ted, you're a genius!"

Ted smiled.

"But what will we find when we get there?" Ned asked.

"Maybe the next clue." Amy suggested.

"But what are we looking for exactly?" Ned asked. "A historic place?"

"Probably," said Amy. "Since all of the places we've been so far are historic."

"Alright, let's go." said Madison.

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A few hours later after much arguing and asking for directions, the Cahills all stood in front of the ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Amy stared at the ruins in awe. She had always dreamed of seeing these ruins in person ever since she had read about them.

Dan scowled. "What _is _this place?"

"The Temple of Apollo," said Sinead.

"Apollo?" Dan said.

"Apollo was the Greek god of the sun, archery, medicine, music, poetry, prophecy, etc. Many think of this place as an oracle." Ned explained.

"An oracle? Like someone who says prophecies and stuff like that?" Reagan asked.

"Sometimes, but this one's a shrine that's used to worship a prophetic deity." said Ned.

Dan wrinkled his nose. "Doesn't _seem _like one."

"These are just the ruins. It was rebuilt three times." said Amy.

"Fascinating," Natalie muttered.

"So, what are we supposed to do here? Wait for something to happen?" Madison asked, looking around.

They suddenly heard a shrill cry above them.

"What was that?" Jonah asked.

"I don't know," Amy murmured. She suddenly felt a light tap on her head. "Hey!" She looked up just in time to see a bird flying away.

Dan bent down and picked up something off of the ground.

"What's that?" Hamilton asked.

"A scroll, it seems like." said Natalie. She looked up. "That bird dropped it."

"Maybe Maddie sent it!" Reagan said.

"Open it up and read it," said Madison.

Dan opened it up and read:

_συγχαρητήρια, Cahills. It seems you've figured out yet another puzzle. I'm sure you're proud of yourselves. Your next destination is at the bottom of this letter. Here's a hint, it's in Greek. I hope you have fun solving it._

καλή τύχη

Reagan wrinkled her nose. "I'm don't know Greek, but Dan, I'm sure yours sucks."

Dan scowled. "Hey! I tried my best to pronounce the words."

"Let me see the rest of it." said Ian.

Dan handed the letter to her.

_Here is the destination:_

Ακρόπολη, ο Παρθενώνας

"I can't read Greek," Ian said.

"Maybe someone else can? Let's ask someone." said Reagan. She took the note and went over to the tour guide that was leading another group. She tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yes? Can I help you?" the woman said in English.

"Yes, could you translate this for us?" Reagan asked, handing the women the note.

She looked at the note and smiled. "Yes, this says 'Acropolis, Parthenon.'"

Reagan smiled. "Thanks!" She went over to the others.

"Well?" Ian asked.

"It says we have to go to the Parthenon in Acropolis." she replied.

Amy smiled. "Then let's go!"

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The Cahills stood in front of the Parthenon. It was a big, old building with a great many of different columns. Dan scowled at the place.

_Another old historic place,_ Dan thought. _Couldn't Maddie choose some place cooler? Like the home to some old ninja or something?_

Amy and Sinead were looking at the place in awe again. Dan's scowl deepened. What did they think was so great about this place?

"Why would someone want to build a place like this?" Madison asked.

"The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, Goddess of Wisdom." said Ted.

"They sure liked Greek mythology here." Hamilton murmured.

"So, what do we do now? Do we go inside?" Ted asked.

"I- oof!" Sinead was knocked to the ground.

"Hey! Watch it!" Reagan said.

A girl who looked about fifteen was running away from them. She had a scroll in her hand. It had a 'V' stamped on the side. Dan's eyes widened, as did Amy's.

"Get her!" Dan cried. "She has the clue!"

"Why would you think that?" Sinead asked.

"No time to explain. Just get her!" Dan yelled, already running with Natalie behind.

They all started to run. Just before the girl ran into the Parthenon, Hamilton grabbed her by the arm. She fell to the ground with a loud cry. They all gathered around her. She had wavy dark hair and tan skin, honey-colored eyes and a black cloak over her shoulders.

"Who are you? What are you doing with our clue?" Dan demanded, getting straight to the point.

"Dan!" Amy hissed. She turned to the girl. "Are you okay?"

She looked up at them, then burst into tears. Dan gaped at the girl. What was happening?

"Oh gosh," Amy said. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"

"No, no, it's fine." she said, sniffing. "It's just- I'm really sorry!"

"What would you be sorry for? Who are you?" Hamilton asked.

"My name's Maia. I-I work for Maddie. I was supposed to be delivering your clue." she paused to sniff again. "I really meant to give it to you! I swear! It's just..."

"Just what?" Jonah asked.

"I-I wanted to help you." Maia said.

"Help us?" Dan asked, puzzled.

Maia nodded. "You see... my father worked for the group Maddie worked for, but my mother didn't. She taught me that the group didn't work for the good of the world. She told me about the Cahills, about how they were trying to help... sort of."

_Sort of is right,_ Dan thought.

"So, what? You ran away because you wanted to help us find the hostages?" Hamilton asked.

Maia nodded. "I can't tell you where they are, though, because I don't know. I barely know anything, really."

"I see," Ian said.

"Family meeting!" Dan called.

The Cahills gathered a few feet away from Maia.

"So, what? You think she's being truthful?" Dan asked.

Amy bit her lip. "I don't know..."

"She sure seemed truthful." Madison said.

"I think so, as well." Natalie said. "I can tell when someone's lying, and I know she wasn't."

"How would you know that?" Dan asked.

"Lucian training. We Kabras had learned that at a young age." Natalie said, proudly.

"So, should we trust her?" Reagan asked.

Everyone turned to Amy, for she was the Madrigal leader. She thought for a moment. "I-I suppose we should try to. At least until we can figure out more about her."

"Alright. Let's go and tell her the good news." Natalie said, sarcastically.

xXxXxXxXx

A/N: I got the translations from Google Translate. I always do, actually. :) I've got a lot of plans for Maia. Please, review!

Translations:

_συγχαρητήρια_: Congratulations

_καλή τύχη_: Good luck

amianfreak19: You were right! They went to the Acropolis. I had decided for them to go there while I was writing this chapter. :)

RomanceOnTheBrain: Ha, ha, I suppose that's just a matter of opinion. XD I don't really hate Evan, he's just too nice. :(

fieryjunior35: I know, I saw that. :D Thanks!

DreamerGirllikesgray: They go to specific places in the countries. But that could always change. :)


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